Jason Kelce Apologizes for ‘Greeting Hate with Hate’ in Phone Snatching Video

Talk about an offensive line, man. He was there for ESPN’s College GameDay, but Jason Kelce wasn’t playing games when he got heckled during a Saturday visit to Penn State University. An unknown man called his brother, Travis Kelce, a homophobic slur for dating Taylor Swift, and in response, Jason threw the man’s phone and smashed it. During Monday Night Football on November 4, Jason says he was “not happy with anything that took place,” including with how he reacted.

Foul caught on tape

November 2: In now-viral footage, the retired Philadelphia Eagles football player grabbed a phone and threw it to the ground after someone called his brother, Travis, the f-slur for dating Taylor Swift. Using a homophobic slur is already bad enough, and using it to describe a man dating a woman is just odd. The video doesn’t clearly show the person who shouted the slur, but Kelce seemed to believe the culprit was someone wearing a Penn State hoodie who was filming him. For not letting the comment slide, Kelce initially received widespread praise online, including from fans of his possible future sister-in-law. “he did all that with garage beer in his hand and a friendship bracelet on his wrist, this man needs a medal,” one Swiftie tweeted approvingly. But reactions became slightly more mixed after another angle of the incident surfaced, this time seemingly showing that Kelce went on to say the slur right back — as the person in a Penn State hoodie attempted to retrieve their phone, Kelce appears to ask, “Who’s the f - - - - - now?”

Given that Kelce’s New Heights podcast with his brother just scored a $100 million deal in August, we doubt he’d be sweating it even if he had to pay for any damages to the device. Campus police told “Page Six” that a report had not been filed over the incident as of Saturday afternoon. Honestly, buying a new phone is probably easier than coming forward to identify yourself as the internet’s new enemy of the day.

Wrong defense?

November 4: At the top of Monday Night Countdown on ESPN, Jason apologized for his reaction. “I’m not happy with anything that took place. I’m not proud of it,” he explained. “In a heated moment, I chose to greet hate with hate and I don’t think that’s a productive thing. I don’t think it leads to discourse… In that moment, I fell down to a level that I shouldn’t have.” It seems like this won’t be the last time Jason will be talking about the incident; he wrapped up the conversation by promising it’s not the end of it: “I don’t think this is the platform to necessarily go into more detail.” Maybe we’ll hear more from both brothers on their podcast on Wednesday.